Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Rick has posted an interesting discussion titled What is History? The Nature of “Facts” in response to my Historicist Hocus Pocus post. This follows a short exchange between us in the comments beneath my own post, and is an extension of earlier blog posts of his own on the same theme. I appreciate Rick’s response … Continue reading “Historical facts and the nature of history — exchange with Rick Sumner”
The baptism of Jesus by John in the Gospel of Mark is stitched together with images from Old Testament passages, and serves the particular theological agenda of Mark that was challenged by later evangelists So, if a passage in the Gospels can be shown to serve a theological agenda of an evangelist, then according to … Continue reading “Baptism of Jesus is not bedrock fact. It is entirely creative literature.”
Okay, I’m sure there will be a few differences if I stop to think seriously about it, but I have just read the introduction in Benjamin Jowett’s Critias by Plato in which are cited the reasons Plato’s lies have managed to convince so many people of the historical truth of the myth of Atlantis. And … Continue reading “Gospel myth – Atlantis myth: Two “Noble Lies””
This post concludes the series of posts covering Strelan’s argument that Mark’s disciples are based on Enoch’s Fallen Watchers. The Mount of Olives was “sacred space” for the author of the Gospel of Mark. This was the place where Jesus took Peter, James and John into to the revelation of the mystery of the signs … Continue reading “The Fall of Jesus’ Disciples as Enoch’s Watchers”
Yishuv refers to the Jewish community in Palestine. The British Mandate period was from 1922 to 1948. This post continues from the same reference (Nur Masalha’s Expulsion of the Palestinians) as in my previous post, and looks at a Palestinian historian’s discussion of the fate of the Palestinian people as planned by the Zionist movement … Continue reading “Redemption or Conquest: Zionist Yishuv plans for transfer of Palestinian Arabs in the British Mandate period”
I place “review” in quotation marks because Associate Professor of Religion of Butler University James McGrath simply avoids addressing Dr Robert Price’s arguments. I used to think McGrath was not very bright, but I have recently come to understand that he is as subtle and smart as a serpent when it comes to those twisting … Continue reading “Observations on McGrath’s “Review” of Robert Price on Mythicism”
Associate Professor of Religion, James McGrath, helpfully offered me the following advice: Perhaps your time would be better spent interacting with those historians and philosophers of history who don’t agree with your presuppositions, and seeking to understand why and address those issues, rather than insulting those who have understandably not written a full-fledged monograph in … Continue reading “Having interacted with historians who do not agree with me, as advised . . .”
This post addresses R. Joseph Hoffmann’s discussion of Maurice Goguel’s 1926 defence of the historicity of Jesus in response to the early mythicist arguments, initially launched by Bruno Bauer in 1939, and developed in particular by Reinach, Drews and Couchoud. Hoffmann divides Goguel’s defence (Jesus the Nazarene: Myth or History?) into the following six sections. … Continue reading “Weaknesses of traditional anti-mythicist arguments”
Orthodoxy itself is best defined as the victory of the belief that Jesus had actually lived a full human existence over the belief that he was a mystical being or a man from heaven, greater than the angels (see Hebrews 2.1-18). And the foundation of this victory was the canonization of the Gospels. Paul’s letters, … Continue reading “6 sound basic premises of early Jesus Mythicism — & the end of scholarly mythicism”
Following on from the 17+ mantras of biblical scholarship —- It is highly unlikely that the Church went out of its way to create the cause of its own embarrassment. [i.e. the account of the baptism of Jesus] Once again, it is highly unlikely that the Church would have taken pains to invent a saying … Continue reading ““It is highly unlikely . . . “”
The creation and Adam and Eve narratives are often said to be nice moral tales that convey spiritual truths. Being myth does not disqualify them from containing meaningful messages for modern readers. So at wedding ceremonies and in Sunday school classes bible-believers are regaled with the “beautiful story” of the God practising a bit of … Continue reading “Which “Bone” Was Eve Made From?”
There’s a comment by humanist Dwight Jones in response to Hoffmann’s post titled Did Jesus Exist? Yes and No that begins As a Humanist I view Christ as one too, a philosopher who was instructing our species Jones’ and Hoffmann’s concept of humanism is too effete, elitist, esoteric and impractical for my taste, but that … Continue reading “How Jesus has been re-imaged through the ages to fit different historical needs”
The title of this post is a lazy one. In fact, Paula Fredriksen is only one of many biblical historians who are guilty of this fallacy in their historical reconstructions of Jesus. I am merely using one detail from her book, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, to illustrate a basic methodological error that … Continue reading “The Fredriksen Fallacy”
Continuing from Rick Strelan’s article notes in Fallen Watchers of Enoch and the 12 Disciples in Mark’s Gospel I’m taking notes from Strelan’s article without much modification and only little of my own comment. Readers can decide for themselves the strength of his case, how suggestive it might be . . . . The Gospel of … Continue reading “Peter and the 12 Disciples; Satan and the Fallen Watchers”